A Feather Alert is out for 14-year-old Brooklyn Salvesen, a Native American girl last seen walking near Nighthawk Way and Washington Avenue in Murrieta on Tuesday afternoon. Authorities describe her as 5 feet 1 inch tall, weighing 125 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, last seen wearing a black shirt, black shorts and black shoes.
The California Highway Patrol issued the alert on behalf of the Murrieta Police Department, according to MyNewsLA.com. Salvesen was last seen at 1:40 p.m. on September 1, and CHP says she reportedly left home on foot. Authorities are asking anyone with information to call 911 or their nearest law enforcement agency.
How the Feather Alert System Works
Feather Alerts are activated when a missing person is confirmed to be Indigenous, and California law sets specific criteria before the CHP can send one out statewide. Under California Government Code Section 8594.13, investigating agencies must confirm the missing person is Indigenous, that they vanished under unexplained or suspicious circumstances, and that they face potential physical danger, trafficking, or health risks, according to the California Highway Patrol. The agency's Emergency Notification and Tactical Alert Center, based at CHP headquarters in Sacramento, is the 24-hour coordinator that evaluates local requests and broadcasts the alerts statewide.
Authorities have provided a printable flyer and are asking the public to report information about the case. Separately, under California Penal Code Section 14211, local departments are required to log at-risk missing person reports into statewide and national databases within two hours of receipt, with no mandatory waiting period allowed.
A Law Born From Years of Delay
The Feather Alert program traces back to Assembly Bill 1314, authored by Assemblymember James C. Ramos and signed into law in 2022 before taking effect on January 1, 2023. The program was created to give Indigenous families and tribal communities the kind of statewide emergency notification system long available for other missing-person cases. In September 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bills 2348 and 1863, reforms that require law enforcement to evaluate alert requests within 24 hours and let tribal governments seek CHP activations directly, according to the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom.
CHP data show California activated 12 Feather Alerts in 2024, compared with just a single activation in 2023, the program's first year, according to El Leñador Newspaper.
Part of a Larger, Documented Pattern
The Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians is in southwestern Riverside County near Temecula. The case unfolds against a broader discussion of how missing Indigenous people are tracked nationwide.
A 2016 Urban Indian Health Institute study was cited in California legislative records concerning missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls. That reporting issue is part of broader discussions about missing-person cases. For now, investigators have not released further details on Salvesen's disappearance, and anyone with information is urged to contact 911 or the nearest law enforcement agency.
